Service specific subscriber priority

ABSTRACT

A communication method manages the allocation of Quality of Service using a communication network having an application server providing services and user equipment operated by subscriber The method also includes prioritizing a subscriber according to their subscription details for each service provided. The method also includes allocating Quality of Service for a service provided to user equipment according to the priority of a subscriber operating the respective user equipment.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and system of managing theallocation of Quality of Service as well as a communication deviceconfigured therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Within the recent developments on the field of the Internet Protocol(IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), it is expected that many types ofapplication servers (AS) are connected to the IMS System. One examplethereof is an application server for the Push-to-talk-over-Cellular(PoC) service, which is also known as Push-To-Talk (PTT) service. Withthe PoC-service, a subscriber can be connected to a number of othersubscribers, which are pre-selected by himself/herself by simplypressing a key on the user equipment (UE). This establishes aGPRS-connection, which operates in half-duplex mode. The PoC-service isconsidered to be one of the first implemented VoIP-applications.

The capabilities of the application server are provided by the IMS.These capabilities can be utilized to implement services for thesubscribers and include, for example, the registration of a third partyfrom the IMS towards the application server.

However, if every subscriber maintains one or more real-time Packet DataProtocol (PDP) contexts at the same time, this would bind a lot ofexpensive packet core and radio resources.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is aimed at resolving the shortcomings of theprior art.

The present invention is a communication method comprising managing theallocation of Quality of Service using a communication network havingapplication server providing services and user equipment operated bysubscriber, wherein the managing step further comprises prioritizingsubscriber according to their subscription details for each serviceprovided; and allocating Quality of Service for a service provided touser equipment according to the priority of a subscriber operating therespective user equipment.

Hence, for example with respect to the specifications of 3^(rd)Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Quality of Service includestraffic classes such as “background”, “interactive”, “streaming”, and“conversational”. Thus, With respect to the specifications of the 3GPP,the allocated Quality of Service includes one traffic class of those.

An important advantage of the method according to the present inventionis its generality with respect to the Internet Protocol (IP) MultimediaSubsystem (IMS) and the related application server. Thus, according tothe present invention, the allocation of packet core resources isoptimized.

According to a first modification, the allocating step comprisesindicating by the network to the user equipment with which Quality ofService a Packet Data Protocol context to the service is to berequested.

According to a second modification, a provided service is the Push toTalk over Cellular service and a Quality of service to be allocated ornot is the streaming traffic class.

According to a third modification, the prioritizing step comprisesstoring the priorities into a subscription management database of aresponsible home subscriber server.

According to a fourth modification, the prioritizing step comprisesstoring the priorities locally into an application server providing theservice with respect to which a subscriber is prioritized.

The present invention is also a communication method comprising managingthe allocation of Quality of Service using a communication networkhaving application server providing services and user equipment operatedby subscriber, wherein the managing step further comprises prioritizingsubscriber according to their subscription details for each serviceprovided; fetching a priority of a subscriber by using a responsiblenetwork means during the registration procedure of the respective userequipment operated by the subscriber in the communication network; andallocating Quality of Service for a service provided to user equipmentaccording to the priority of a subscriber operating the respective userequipment.

According to a first modification, the prioritizing step furthercomprises using several Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem publicuser identities by a subscriber, and storing the priority setting foreach of them application server specific into a home subscriber server.

The present invention is also a communication method comprising managingthe allocation of Quality of Service using a communication networkhaving application server providing services and user equipment operatedby subscriber, wherein the managing step further comprises prioritizingsubscriber according to their subscription details for each serviceprovided; storing respective priority information in either one of asubscriber identity module, a UMTS identity module and an InternetProtocol Multimedia Subsystem identity module; and allocating Quality ofService for a service provided to user equipment according to thepriority of a subscriber operating the respective user equipment.

Further, the present invention is also a communication method comprisingmanaging the allocation of Quality of Service using a communicationnetwork having application server providing services and user equipmentoperated by subscriber, wherein the managing step further comprisesprioritizing subscriber according to their subscription details for eachservice provided; receiving a respective priority indication of asubscriber after a Session Initiation Protocol session request; andallocating Quality of Service for a service provided to user equipmentaccording to the priority of a subscriber operating the respective userequipment.

According to a first modification thereof, the allocating step comprisesindicating by the network to the user equipment with which Quality ofService a Packet Data Protocol context to the service is to berequested.

Moreover, the present invention is a communication system comprising acommunication network configured to manage the allocation of Quality ofService, the network having application server configured to provideservices and user equipment operated by subscriber; a firstcommunication device configured to prioritize subscriber according totheir subscription details for each service provided; and a secondcommunication device configured to allocate Quality of Service for aservice provided to user equipment according to the priority of asubscriber operating the respective user equipment.

The system of the present invention includes embodiments andmodifications thereof, which are configured such that the methodsaccording to the present invention as well as their modifications can beperformed.

Apart from that, the present invention is also a communication devicecomprising prioritizing means configured to prioritize subscriberaccording to their subscription details for each service provided to auser equipment operated by the subscriber; and allocating meansconfigured to allocate Quality of Service for a service provided to userequipment according to the priority of a subscriber operating therespective user equipment.

Also the communication device of the present invention includesembodiments and modifications thereof, which are configured such thatthe methods according to the present invention as well as theirmodifications can be performed.

These and other modifications, details and advantages of the presentinvention will become more fully apparent from the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments, which is to be taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a general registration procedure in the Internet ProtocolMultimedia Subsystem (IMS); and

FIG. 2 shows the Interaction between the Session InitiationProtocol/Session Description Protocol, the General Packet Radio Serviceand the Common Open Policy Service on the mobile originating side.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, implementation options of the present invention aredescribed which are to be understood as presently preferred embodimentsof the present invention.

First Embodiment

According to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, apriority indication of the subscriber is fetched during the registrationprocedure.

Specifically, according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention, the subscriber has several IMS public user identities (IMPU).The priority settings are stored application server (AS) specific orgenerally service specific into a responsible home subscriber server(HSS) for each IMS public user identity (IMPU) of a subscriber.

As an alternative, the priority setting may also concern the wholeregistered set of the IMS public user identities (IMPU).

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, a servingcall state control function (S-CSCF) receives the user profile of asubscriber in question via the Cx-interface during the authenticationprocedure according to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Then, uponreceiving the “SIP 200 response” message to the “REGISTER request”message, a proxy call state control function (P-CSCF) stores a list ofuniform resource identifier (URI) with (new) priority settings from aP-Associated-URI header. A P-associated-URI header is a data elementwhich conveys a list of uniform resource identifier that the serviceprovider has allocated to the user.

Further, the user equipment (UE) also stores the expiration time of theregistration for the public user identities found in the To headervalue.

It is to be noted that there is no need to allocate a new IMS publicuser identity (IMPU) for each service. One IMS public user identity(IMPU) can contain several service specific priority settings.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, regardingthe service, the priority settings list may have to be related to thepublic identities, to the private identities, or to the IMSsubscriptions in the home subscriber server (HSS).

Further, the new data can be transported from the home subscriber server(HSS) to the serving call state control function (S-CSCF) by using theCx-interface. The data can be placed in the user profile that is loadedto the serving call state control function (S-CSCF) during theregistration of the user (which would be the server assignmentrequest/answer command pair—SAR/SAA), and if the preferences are changedin the home subscriber server (HSS), they can be updated to the servingcall state control function (S-CSCF) (which would be the Push-ProfileRequest/Answer command pair—PPR/PPA).

Further, the P-Associated-URI header can have a new tag or that the “SIP200 OK” message has another indication, wherein it is preferably avoidedto carry it in the payload.

Finally, according to the first embodiment, there can be a new sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) extension to carry the application server (AS)service specific priority information to the user equipment (UE).

The advantages according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention are that the user equipment (UE) can receive the priorityinformation of the subscriber right away during registration. Further,in case the subscriber has a low priority, this can indicate to the userequipment (UE) that the subscriber is not allowed to have the streamingQuality-of-Service (QoS). After this indication, the user equipment (UE)can create a general purpose packet data protocol (PDP) context in orderto send a session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling and media throughit.

FIG. 1 shows a general registration procedure, where a signaling flowdiagram is depicted by illustrating 24 consecutive steps. Specifically,the respective steps denote messages according to the Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) sent between the elements of the IMS as a generalregistration procedure of a subscriber's user equipment UE A at theapplication server AS via the network elements proxy call state controlfunction P-CSCF comprising the domain name server DNS, interrogatingcall state control function I-CSCF, serving call state control functionS-CSCF, and home subscriber server HSS. In accordance with the abovedescription, the public identity specific data is received in themessage according to step 18, i.e. in the server assignment answer.

FIG. 2 shows the interaction between the Session InitiationProtocol/Session Description Protocol, the General Packet Radio Serviceand the Common Open Policy Service on the mobile originating side.Specifically, illustrated are 34 steps corresponding to respectivemessages between a user equipment UE, a serving GPRS support node, agateway GPRS support node, and a proxy call state control functionP-CSCF comprising a policy decision function PDF. According to FIG. 2,it is apparent that when a user equipment requests a communicationsession, the network can indicate to the user equipment which kind ofPDP context should be requested i.e. whether to request streamingtraffic class or not and whether it is needed to activate another PDPcontext or not.

In detail, the present embodiment affects step 6. “Authorize Quality ofService resources” and consecutive steps in the way how this isindicated to the user equipment UE and how the user equipment UE reactsand responds back to the network, i.e. to the serving GPRS support node,the gateway GPRS support node, and the proxy call state control functionP-CSCF comprising a policy decision function PDF.

The steps for implementing the present invention according to the firstembodiment are that the Policy Decision Function (PDF) checks theservice indication value and queries the subscriber's service specificpriority information from the proxy call state control function's(P-CSCF) database.

Thereafter, the network sends the P-media-Authorization header to theuser equipment in the “SIP 183” message. The message is to carry somekind of indication of subscription priority for a requested service.

A modification can be that the IMS network instructs the user equipmentto group the media to one or several PDP-contexts, preferably withoutrejecting the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) requests.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the servicespecific priority analysis can, for example, receive some kind ofservice indication in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message or inits payload. The priority information can be stored into

the subscription management database of the application server (AS). Inthis case, the “SIP 183” message is sent from the application server(AS) in order to inform the subscription priority information to theuser equipment (UE). A possibility would be to be carried in the messagepayload, for example. As an alternative, the priority information canalso be stored into the proxy call state control function (P-CSCF) byreceiving and storing the public identity specific priority informationduring the registration.

With respect to the Push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) service as aparticular application example of the present invention, it is to benoted that, according to the first embodiment of the present invention,some terminals may support the secondary Packet Data Protocol (PDP)context activation even if they do not support media authorization suchas sending and/or receiving a P-Media-Authorization header. In thiscase, the secondary Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context activation is upto the local policy of the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Further, itis to be noted that when the early session procedure is supported, theuser equipment (UE) has enough time to activate a general purpose PacketData Protocol (PDP) context for a service if the activation of a PacketData Protocol (PDP) context with streaming Quality of Service (QoS) isnot allowed for a certain subscriber.

Second Embodiment

According to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention,either one of the subscriber identity module (SIM), the UMTS identitymodule (USIM) and the IMS identity module (ISIM) contains the abovedescribed priority information.

Implementation examples for the second preferred embodiment include thatthe priority information is stored into either one card of thesubscriber identity module (SIM), the UMTS identity module (USIM) andthe IMS identity module (ISIM), or that it is loaded into the userequipment (UE). However, in the latter example the new settings can beloaded to the user equipment (UE), or the subscriber identity module(SIM) card, the UMTS identity module (USIM) card or the IMS identitymodule (ISIM) card can be changed in case new application server (AS)services for end-user are added.

Third Embodiment

According to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, thepriority indication of the subscriber is received after a sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) session request.

Specifically, when the user equipment (UE) requests a communicationsession, the network indicates to the user equipment (UE) whether torequest a secondary packet data protocol (PDP) context to the service ornot.

In detail, the particular steps of the method according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention are that the Policy DecisionFunction (PDF) checks the service indication value and queries theservice specific priority information of the subscriber from theinternal database of the proxy call state control function (P-CSCF).Then, the network sends the P-Media-Authorization header to the userequipment (UE) in a “SIP 183” message. The message carries some kind ofindication of subscription priority for a requested service.

Implementation examples of the third embodiment according to the presentinvention include that the user equipment (UE) receives a header withoutthe media authorization token, wherein the user equipment (UE) must notactivate a secondary packet data protocol (PDP) context for the servicein question. In turn, this would also prevent the user equipment (UE)from trying to activate the streaming packet data protocol (PDP) contextdespite of the priority indication.

According to the third embodiment of the present invention, all servicerequests can, for example, contain some kind of service indication in aSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) message or in its payload, and thepriority information can be stored into the subscription managementdatabase of the application server (AS). In this case, the “SIP 183”message is sent from the application server (AS) in order to inform theuser equipment (UE) of the subscription priority information which canbe carried, for example, in the payload. Alternatively, the priorityinformation can also be stored into the home subscriber server (HSS),wherein the home subscriber server (HSS) and the proxy call statecontrol function (P-CSCF) receive and store the priority informationduring the registration.

Regarding the Push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) service as a particularimplementation example of the third embodiment of the present invention,some terminals support a secondary Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contextactivation even if they do not support media authorization including thesending and/or receiving of a P-Media-Authorization header. In thiscase, the secondary Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context activation iswithin the responsibility of the local policy of the Gateway GPRSSupport Node (GGSN). Further, when an early session procedure issupported, the user equipment (UE) has enough time to activate a generalpurpose Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context for a service.

Accordingly, included in the above description is a communication methodcomprising: managing the allocation of Quality of Service using acommunication network having application server providing services anduser equipment operated by subscriber, wherein the managing step furthercomprises prioritizing subscriber according to their subscriptiondetails for each service provided; and allocating Quality of Service fora service provided to user equipment according to the priority of asubscriber operating the respective user equipment.

What is described above is what is presently considered as the preferredembodiments of the present invention. However, this is not to beconstrued as binding the present invention in any way to the disclosedembodiments. Rather, it is to be understood that various modificationsand amendments may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: managing an allocation ofquality of service using a communication network having an applicationserver providing services and user equipment operated by a subscriber,wherein the managing includes: prioritizing the subscriber according tosubscription details separately for each of at least two servicesprovided, wherein the prioritization is service-specific and furtherwherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least twoservice-specific priority settings, and allocating said quality ofservice for a service provided to said user equipment according to apriority of the subscriber operating the user equipment.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the allocating comprises indicating, bythe communication network to the user equipment, said quality of serviceto be requested for a packet data protocol context for a service.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the prioritizing comprises causingpriorities to be stored into a subscription management database of aresponsible home subscriber server.
 4. The method according to claim 1,wherein the prioritizing comprises causing priorities to be storedlocally into the application server providing the service with respectto which the subscriber is prioritized.
 5. The method according to claim1, further comprising: causing the priority of the subscriber to befetched by using a responsible network entity during a registrationprocedure of the user equipment operated by the subscriber in thecommunication network.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein theprioritizing further comprises: using several internet protocolmultimedia subsystem public user identities by the subscriber; andcausing a priority setting to be stored for each of the identitiesaccording to a specific application server into a home subscriberserver.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: causing respectivepriority information to be stored in one of a subscriber identitymodule, a universal mobile telecommunications system identity module, oran internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity module.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving a respective priorityindication of the subscriber after a session initiation protocol sessionrequest.
 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the allocatingcomprises causing said quality of service to be requested for a packetdata protocol context for a service to be indicated by the communicationnetwork to the user equipment.
 10. A system, comprising: a communicationnetwork configured to manage an allocation of quality of service, thecommunication network having an application server configured to provideservices and user equipment operated by a subscriber; a first networkentity configured to prioritize the subscriber according to subscriptiondetails separately for each of at least two services provided, whereinthe prioritization is service-specific and further wherein an identityof the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specificpriority settings; and a second network entity configured to allocatethe quality of service for a service provided to the user equipmentaccording to a priority of the subscriber operating the user equipment.11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the communication networkis further configured to indicate, to the user equipment, with whichquality of service a packet data protocol context for a service is to berequested.
 12. The system according to claim 10, further comprising: ahome subscriber server having a subscription management database,wherein the first network entity is operably connected with a homesubscriber service so that the priorities are stored into a subscriptionmanagement database.
 13. The system according to claim 10, wherein thefirst network entity is operably connected with the application serverproviding the service with respect to which the subscriber isprioritized, and wherein a connection is configured so that prioritiesare stored locally into the application server.
 14. The system accordingto claim 10, further comprising: a third network entity configured tofetch the priority of the subscriber by using a responsible networkentity during a registration procedure of the user equipment operated bythe subscriber in the communication network.
 15. The system according toclaim 14, further comprising a home subscriber server, wherein the firstnetwork entity is further configured to use several internet protocolmultimedia subsystem public user identities for the subscriber, andwherein the home subscriber server and the first network entity areoperably connected to store a priority setting for each of the internetprotocol multimedia subsystem public user identities according to aspecific application server into the home subscriber server.
 16. Thesystem according to claim 10, further comprising: a third network entityconfigured to store respective priority information in one of asubscriber identity module, a universal mobile telecommunications systemidentity module and an internet protocol multimedia subsystem identitymodule.
 17. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at leastone memory device, the at least one processor being configured to, withthe memory device, cause the apparatus at least to: prioritize asubscriber according to subscription details separately for each of atleast two services provided to a user equipment operated by thesubscriber, wherein the prioritization is service-specific and furtherwherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least twoservice-specific priority settings; and allocate quality of service fora service provided to the user equipment according to a priority of thesubscriber operating the user equipment.
 18. The apparatus according toclaim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to,with the memory device, cause the apparatus at least to: fetch thepriority of the subscriber during a registration procedure of the userequipment operated by the subscriber in a communication network of theapparatus.
 19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein theapparatus is operably connected to an application server and to a homesubscriber server, and wherein the apparatus is further caused to: useseveral internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities bythe subscriber, and store a priority setting for each of the identitiesaccording to a specific application server into the home subscriberserver.
 20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to, with the memory device, causethe apparatus at least to: cause respective priority information to bestored in one of a subscriber identity module, a universal mobiletelecommunications system identity module and an internet protocolmultimedia subsystem identity module.